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Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi by Relangi Narasimha Rao
releasing on 22nd April 2004

After a self-imposed exile of 3 years, comedy director Relangi Narasimha Rao is coming back with a comedy film titled 'Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi' (PPR) with Aditya Om and Rekha in the main leads. This film is produced by Yadagiri Reddy on Nitya Movies banner. Idlebrain.com has met with Relangi Narasimha Rao to know more about PPR. Here are the excerpts …..

How did you get the idea for the story of PPR?

Producer Yadagiri Reddy approached me for a movie and I asked him what kind of subject did he prefer to produce and he asked for my trend of subjects which are of lighter vein subjects in latest trend. So I narrated him the storyline for two subjects and after which he liked one of them. The producer also said that the film will come out well if there is a star in the movie like Srikanth or Venu. We approached both of them for dates and we could not get the dates in the schedules that we wanted to shoot. Both the producer and myself sat for a discussion and producer suggested that we will go for a movie which will have all the comedians and with a relatively new cast. He asked me recollect if there are any story lines which will suit this requirement so that we can discuss the next day.

My son told me a storyline and I liked the subject. I met the producer next day and narrated the subject and he liked it extremely well. Same day some of the friends of the producer also heard of the subject and they liked it extremely well. That day, Anji Reddy brother of Yadagiri Reddy was also in City and the producer narrated the subject and he found the subject to be exciting. Mr. Venkat Reddy also liked the subject. Then we went ahead of choosing Sankaramanchi Parthasarathi as Dialogue Writer and asked him to come to listen to the subject. He was impressed by the subject and then we started pondering on what should be title of the film? I gave 6 titles by next day and asked the producer to pick one among them. The producer choose two titles viz, "Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi" and "Idandi Sangati" and he said we will decide the title after couple of days. We met after two days and discussed on picking the title and we chose "Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi" as we thought it is more appropriate to the subject. So this is the way the subject and the title are finalized for this movie.

Why did you have "Band Master Brahamandandam" as the caption for this movie?

Band is an important thing for any marriage. Even the people with lower class income will have band for marriages. Without band we don't think that it is a marriage though it takes place. Likewise in this movie, Brahmanandam's track is highlight for this movie. Though the film's genre is comedy, the separate comedy track involving Brahmanandam, Ali and Jeeva is the highlight of the movie. As band is important for marriage, likewise the comedy track involving these three comedians is important for this film. So we have this caption.

Is there any specific reason why you chose this particular casting?

All my earlier films are based on the comedy between wife and husband which are matured and for those roles, Rajendra Prasad, Chandra Mohan are good. As the film title itself suggests, "Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi" needs youngsters who can do a comedy role which is difficult. For youth and love subjects we have lot of youth heroes but I needed a youthful comedy hero. I have watched LLL (Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo) and DILU (Dhanalakshmi I Love You) and I felt that Aditya Om is good in delivering the comedy. I have also picked the second hero Vijaya Sai based on this. I have watched his film Ammailu - Abbailu and I felt confident that he can do this role. Likewise the reason for taking Rekha is the heroine's role in the film is an important character. In the first half, her role will be a lovely character and in the second half she needs to portray a maturity. I also gave a thought about her height and complexion which we thought will suit the film very well and I have seen her performance in Anandam and chosen her.

There is a huge gap between your last film and "Preminchukunnam Pelliki Randi"? This is like your second coming and there has been a huge difference in the trends then and now. Most of the successful directors during your time are not able to make successful films anymore. How are you doing the film and how are you going to convince the audience with it?

Yeah. This is a very nice question. There is a huge change in the last three years. Though I was sitting idle I have been doing the home work in the last three years. I am watching all the release movies on how youthful movies are made. The subject which was given by my son is a latest one and good. I even told the dialog writer that the dialogues, characterizations and performance should be latest. I instructed the same to storywriter (my son), dialogue writer and camera man (Jaya Ram). Since Jaya Ram is in the field for a long time, I though that it is not necessary to tell him anything to extract the right kind of work from him. I told him on the first day of the shoot, though I have made lot of films, if you don't like a shot that I have asked you, please let me know about it so that we can discuss and come to a conclusion and help in making the move much better. So all these three technicians worked very carefully due to which we could come up with a latest trend movie.

Earlier, there used to be a movie of yours releasing every month and the production cost used to be very less and also the number of days of shooting used to be very less. How many days did you take to complete this movie and what is the production cost?

For this film we took around 35 days. Earlier I used to take around 28-30 days. I could not like that this time. Earlier we used to consider dialogue punch and situational comedy only and we used to give less importance to taking. But these days, general youth also know about the production values and I have decided to give importance to taking. Coming to production cost, earlier it used to be very less as we used to have a 3-4 makeup men for all the artistes put together. But these days every artist has a makeup man as well as they have a touch up artist. Also if the star is big they have 3-4 of their employees on the sets. Earlier we used to provide one car for 3-4 artistes together and we used to pick them up. But these days, we have to send a car to each and every artist separately. Like wise the budget allocated for the publicity earlier used to be around 3-4 lakhs and now the same amount is used for under production publicity. So there is no budget control for this movie in my hands where as I used to have the complete control with me earlier.

What is the budget for this movie and what was the budget earlier?

My first movie " Nenu - Maa Avida" is made with a budget of 14 lakhs and my earlier movie, ammo - bomma is made with a budget of 75 lakhs and the unreleased movie "Appa Rao Nela Tappaadu" is made with a budget of 1 Crore. For this movie the budget is around 1.25 Crores. There is a huge change in the system. Earlier we used to think that the cost of production is less in Chennai and is costly is in Hyderabad as the artists used to live in Chennai and there is no cost for food and accommodation. Though the artists stay in Hyderabad, we have to provide all these facilities due to which the cost of production has increased by a considerable margin.

Usually you always used to have Telugu actors in movie. But this time you have Aditya Om and Rekha who are not Telugu speaking actors. Is there any specific reason for choosing them?

We could not fine a Telugu heroine who can do comedy and perform well. Coming to Aditya Om, I could not find a young actor who can deliver the comedy on the lines of Rahendra Prasad and Chandra Mohan. And for my budget he is the best available hero. Though Prabhu Deva might be suitable for the role I thought he is more mature and he might not fit in the college going student role. At the same time, I have confidence with Aditya Om that I could make him deliver the goods and I chose him as the Hero.

Earlier, people used to watch a film which has comedy from beginning to end but now a days audience are looking for all the ingredients, viz, action, comedy, melodrama. Do you have all the ingredients in this movie?

Yeah. As you have said this movie have all the ingredients. Sakuntala and Giri babu are involved in action roles. Likewise, there is a sentimental flashback and father-daughter sentimental scenes and we did not miss the comedy anywhere in this movie though it has got all the ingredients.

Nowadays, there is lot of home entertainment where we are getting lot of comedy programmes on TV channels. And what makes you think that people will come to theatre and watch this movie?

People will come to watch the movie as we have all the elements that will cater to all types of audiences. We are confident that this will generate a huge amount of mouth publicity due to which we will have a good run at the box office. I am planning to ask the producer not to air the highlights of the movie in the publicity campaign so that it will make the people come to theatre and watch the movie.

There are lots of comedians who have got break in the last couple of years. Do you have any of them in this movie and how is it working with them?

We have Raghu Baabu, Venu Madhav, MS Narayana and Krishna Bhagavan working in this movie and I feel very comfortable working with the new generation of comedians. I did not have a very good impression of Raghu Babu doing a comedy role in the past. I have watched him in Khadgam and I like it a lot. It is routine character. Though the role came in earlier movies, it had totally different shades and he has done very well. MS Narayana did it in a different style. This is the first time he did the full length character. I would like to tell you about the comment made by him. He had lot of Principal character but he was extremely impressed with his role and he produced lot of comedy. Krihsna Bhagavan has a good dialogue punch and he is a very nice artist. Venu Madhav is one of the comedians who is senior but worked with me for first time and he did very well.

These days, people are forgetting about the director if he gives a flop. So after a gap of three years you got this opportunity. What do you think of this?

The producers have complete 100% confidence and I think that I have fulfilled their confidence. The producers are confident because of my track record in making comedy films. The producers are new and also my son is the story writer. So I felt that I have to provide good support for them so that they can get a niche in the industry.

When are you planning to release the movie?

22nd April 2004

Generally, there is trend right now in film industry, sons, brothers, sisters and every relative of a noted film maker/actor/actress are trying to make it into the industry and even the common movie lover is feeling disgusted with this. What made you think that your son will do a good job as a story writer? How do you justify introducing your son into the film industry?

Yes. I agree to the fact that there are lot of big heroes who are introducing their sons and trying to push them onto the audience based on their image giving publicity saying that be ready to face him and he is from this vamsam and that vamsam which is a very bad trend. Finally audience are the ones who are going to accept/reject the film. And I am against to all these gimmicks. If you see, I did not arrange a single press meet or interview for my son. I am thinking if the movie does well then, I might hold couple of press meets and introduce him to the press people. For Ex: If you take Jr. NTR, he came on his own and he did not utter a single word till he got to the top. But now a days, there are advertisements and pressmeets all over the place saying that their son is doing extremely well, their kin is for doing seva to Telugu film industry, get ready to face him etc., etc., which is a unhealthy trend and I am against to it.

What is your relation with veteran comedian Relangi Venkata Ramayya gaaru?

He was a distant cousin to my father and I did not meet him till I came to film industry. While I was working for Radhamma Pelli for Daasara, I got introduced to him and he used to talk very freely and he enquired about my surname and I became close to their family subsequently after coming to know that he is a distant relative for me.

You have worked with so many comedy actors who is the best among them?

When I was kid I used to watch Raja Babu and Relangi who are completely different. Likewise, Babu Mohan, Brahmanandam and Kota are completely different. LB Sriram style is totally different and his dialogue delivery cannot be imitated by anyone. There are actors who depend on dialogues, some depend on performance and the one who are good with both dialogues and performance are the ones who going to stand in the long run. I have worked with Chandra Mohan, Rajendra Prasad and Naresh simultaneously and everyone has their own style.

In 80s and 90s you used to have a release almost every month…..

I used to do have a busy schedule and I used to book 3-4 rooms in the hotel that I used to stay so that story writers and producers can come and discuss the story and prepare the script. I used to run from one location to another and in a year I have 12 releases and I would have entered into Guinness book of world records if I had another release but I missed it by whisker as my 13th movie is not released due to some problems and there was already a Malayalam director who had 12 movies released in a year entered into the record books. We used to prepare the scripts in the evening as I used to be free and work on the further project with the script writers as I do not have any drinking or gambling habits.

Also I saw that businessmen from Guntur and Godavari districts used to come to Chennai with cash to produce a movie with you?

Yes. People used to come and I used to do lot of movies for lot of new producers and I was very happy as I was kept busy through out. But I could not make much money out of my work. The cumulative remuneration for 6-7 films of mine is equivalent to the remuneration for one film these days if a director is successful

Anything you would like to express to visitors of idlebrain.com?

I would like them to watch PPR (Preminchukundam Peliki Randi) when its released and express their opinion using idlebrain.com.

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